Jerry West’s legend was so well established when he retired from the Los Angeles Lakers in 1974 that he’d already been the inspiration for the NBA’s logo. Half a century later, West remains seventh all-time in points per game and holds the points-per-game record for a playoff series, numbers even more remarkable because he did it without the three-point shot.

But, of course, West wasn’t done. As a scout and general manager, he was a key architect of the Showtime Lakers teams of the 1980s and later acquired both Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to build another dynasty. West also was an executive for the Golden State Warriors in their heyday, providing crucial advice on player personnel.

Through it all, however, West struggled with depression and a sense of self-loathing, and had trouble with intimacy, much of it a by-product of a hardscrabble childhood in West Virginia with a domineering father.

That dichotomy, his outer success and inner turmoil, are the heart of “Jerry West: The Logo,” a new documentary for Prime Video, from “black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, directing his first documentary.

“I’m from L.A. and was a fan of the Showtime Lakers growing up,” Barris says, so he put his name in for the project figuring he’d at least get to meet a hero. “But we immediately hit it off and I felt a kinship with him.”

That ability to connect was part of West’s magic, as attested to by the string of NBA legends who pay tribute to him in the documentary, including Lakers such as Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Pat Riley and O’Neal, along with Steph Curry and Michael Jordan.

Vlade Divac was traded by West to secure the rights to Bryant, but he selected West to introduce him at his Hall of Fame induction. In a recent phone interview, Divac praised West as “a father figure when you needed it and a friend when you needed it. He was very honest and he cared about people and helped you achieve your goals. He’s one of the best guys I ever met. Period.”

Barris, who did extensive interviews with West before the Laker icon died in 2024, spoke by video recently about making the documentary, which also includes NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledging for the first time that West was the sport’s logo. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Jerry had already opened up about his life in his memoir, “West by West,” but do you think this was still cathartic for him?

His book really drew me to doing the documentary because it was so honest. I think the idea of him actually saying these things out loud in front of a camera with his kids and his grandkids around was a catharsis for him.

Did he feel he was nearing the end?

Jerry would say, “I feel like I’m in God’s waiting room.” He didn’t like getting old because he was so much in touch with his body as an athlete — he could jump higher and run farther than his friends. When I first met him, he was on the treadmill and jogging with weights. He was in his 80s but was saying, “I used to be able to jog with more weights.”

He was feeling old but I don’t think that he thought he was about to pass.

Was he annoyed by his depiction in HBO’s Lakers series “Winning Time,” which generated controversy in 2022?

The show was entertaining, but it really bothered him and he didn’t think it was fair. I think that series might’ve pushed him into wanting to do this, if I’m being completely honest.

“Jerry would say, ‘I feel like I’m in God’s waiting room,’” said director Kenya Barris, who conducted extensive interviews with the Lakers legend before his death in 2024.

(Prime)

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He and his family talk openly on camera about his mental health issues. Was it hard to balance that tonally with his great accomplishments in basketball?

I did not want to make something that was morose or a melodrama. But it would not be complete if he didn’t talk about the struggles. When I first met him, he was just coming out of a depression and anyone who’s ever been through that understands that it is actually a struggle. So forming a whole picture of who this character was was really important. And also it was important for his family because they lived through this with him as well. They were sad to see him suffer, but they had suffered through it too.

We wanted to really talk about who this character was and what formed him. Most of who we are is formed between the ages of 0 and 12 and in those years, Jerry saw a lot and went through a lot of stuff.

When his older brother was killed in Korea and his father put the casket by the Christmas tree …

That was crazy. If we could get the audience to understand who this man was, it would give them empathy for everything after.

As a GM [general manager], he was a white guy in this predominantly Black sport, but he came in with a chip on his shoulder, too, and he saw these young players who hadn’t had strong father figures and came from socioeconomically deprived places like he did and he was able to build real relationships with them.

He didn’t want to talk about it a lot in the doc, but he did a lot for civil rights and for players’ advocacy of the NBA, for the Black players, who didn’t have the same voice that he had. But he did it quietly.

Jerry West signed Shaquille O’Neal to the Lakers in 1996 after four years with the Orlando Magic. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

Jerry West, left, Kobe Bryant and Lakers head coach Del Harris in 1997. Bryant was acquired in a trade for Vlade Divac. (Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)

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One thing the documentary avoids is the contentious relationship with Phil Jackson — who isn’t even mentioned — and the cause of West’s departure from the Lakers right after he built that dynasty. Did he not want to discuss it?

We spoke about it. You can’t have that long a career and not rack up some controversial things. But I did not want this to be a salacious look at the negative accounts. I got in there the idea of a strain with the Lakers, but I wanted to make sure to not defile that relationship based upon certain things that I wasn’t going to dig into. It was not a gotcha sort of documentary. It was more of a tribute to him.

People have wondered if he had stayed on, whether he could have stopped the relationship between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal from going south, and I would have been interested to know what he thought.

We did talk about that. He believes that he could have got them to stay together and he said that he believes they could have gone on and won four or five more championships.

Mike Breen, the New York Knicks’ play-by-play announcer and star NBA voice with ESPN, is not happy with a key league move heading into the NBA Playoffs.

And he didn’t hold back his frustrations during the Knicks’ regular-season finale on Sunday night.

For the first time in NBA history, all local network broadcasts are being pushed out of the playoffs for nationally televised games. Those networks paid a premium to air the playoffs, but the league had always allowed the local home broadcast to be aired as well as the national TV spots in previous seasons.

Breen, alongside his longtime partner, Knicks great Walt “Clyde” Frazier, ripped the league’s decision on the final day of his broadcasting duties for the Eastern Conference squad.

“First time ever that no longer can the home team announcers and broadcasters televise the first round,” Breen mentioned during the 110-96 loss to the Charlotte Hornets while broadcasting on MSG.

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“The entire playoffs are exclusive to national TV broadcasters. I mentioned this earlier this season. I think, personally, Clyde, it’s a poor decision. Fans want to hear their home team announcers, at least in the first round. For so many of us, they become part of the family.”

Breen added that he understands “the networks pay a fortune for exclusivity,” granted he works for one of those networks on ESPN.

“But fans deserve to be thrown a bone once in a while in terms of letting the home team have a little bit of the first round,” he continued.

The NBA reached a whopping $76 billion broadcast rights deal that kicked in at the start of this season, and it will last for the next 11 seasons. Like other pro sports leagues, the deal is carved out across various platforms, both long-standing networks and streaming.

While the NBA got together the deal it liked with Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal, Breen hopes it would consider working something out to get local broadcasters back into the fold for the playoffs.

However, he knows how the business is at the end of the day.

“Somehow, if there’s any way they can work out some kind of compromise, I’m not hopeful for that, but it would be wonderful to have it because this is our final telecast of the season,” Breen said.

Breen, now, will focus on his ESPN duties as the lead commentator for the “Worldwide Leader” on the court. His famous “Bang!” call on clutch three-pointers has been synonymous with the biggest moments in the NBA Playoffs for years now, and that will get started very soon as teams in both the East and West gun for their shot at the Larry O’Brien Trophy and to call themselves NBA Finals champions.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, the reigning Finals champs, are the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference once again, while teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers will battle them to be crowned conference champions.

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In the East, Breen’s Knicks own the No. 3 seed, while the Detroit Pistons (No. 1) and Boston Celtics (No. 2) had successful regular-season campaigns to earn a top spot heading into the playoffs.

The Play-In Tournament will be the first games for the NBA Playoffs, which will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Then, the first round will split its tipoffs on NBC/Peacock, Prime Video and ESPN.

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SUNRISE, Fla. — New York Rangers goalkeeper Jonathan Quick is calling it a career after 19 NHL seasons and three Stanley Cup championships — with 16 of those seasons and two championships as a member of the Kings.

The 40-year-old goalie told reporters Monday that he would be playing in his final game that night when the Rangers visit the Florida Panthers. It will mark Quick’s 921st game appearance, counting playoffs.

“Tonight will be my last game in the league, and I am looking forward to it,” Quick said following the morning skate ahead at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla. “My wife flew down with the kids, my parents will be here. I am looking forward to this last one, try to get one more win here.”

He added of his decision: “It just felt right. Felt like the right time. I put some thought into it.”

Selected by the Kings in the third round of the 2005 draft, Quick became a fixture in front of the net for L.A. during the 2008-09 season. He was a key member of the Kings’ Stanley Cup champion teams in 2012 and 2014, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs with a 16-4 record, a .946 save percentage and 1.41 goals-against average.

Quick won a silver medal as a backup goaltender for the U.S. at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, although he did not see any playing time. At the 2014 Sochi Games, Quick went 3-2 as the starting goalie for the fourth-place U.S. team.

By March 2023, Quick was the Kings’ leader among goalies in the categories of total games (743), wins (370) and shutouts (57). At age 37, however, he had also lost a step or two. The Kings traded him to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who turned around and dealt him to the Vegas Golden Knights the next day.

Quick saw a decent amount of playing time down the stretch in the regular season because of injuries to the Golden Knights’ goaltenders. He didn’t make it into any games during the team’s championship run in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

After spending the last three seasons in New York, Quick is set to make his 70th and final start with the Rangers and add the final numbers to a stat line that currently includes 20,315 saves (18th most all time), 410 wins (12th most) and 65 shutouts (17th).

“He earned the respect of his teammates, coaches and staff members through his work ethic and dedication to his craft,” Rangers general manager Chris Drury said in a statement posted on social media. “Jonathan is a special person and player, and the entire Rangers organization wishes him — along with his wife, Jackie, and three children, Madison, Carter and Cash — all the best in retirement.”

The Rangers are 33-38-9 and will miss the playoffs for the second straight season. They finish the year Wednesday night at Tampa Bay.

Another key member of the Kings championship teams, Anze Kopitar, also is retiring after this season, following 20 years in the NHL, all with L.A.